Sanctuary: A Postapocalyptic Novel (The New World Series) (13 page)

“I really do need to go back and check on my father. Here is my offer to you. If you’re available, let’s have dinner two nights from now,” she said as she stood up.

Pablo didn’t want to argue. “I will happily receive that gift. What is the second one?”

She took a step toward him and leaned in. He met her half-way for a long, passionate kiss.

She pulled back when she felt he was getting excited and said, “That is gift number two.”

Pablo was at a loss for words. “Isabelle, it was a pleasure. Thank you for joining me tonight.” He took her arm and escorted her to the large double doors. He unlocked them and led her to the front door of the mansion. There he said, “As a token of my gratitude for your time tonight, I will have my personal physician immediately come over to take care of your father.”

“Thank you, Emperor,” she said, then walked out toward the vehicle waiting for her.

Pablo closed the door and looked at the guard standing there. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

Pablo touched his lips. Her lip gloss still clung to them. He didn’t know what was wrong with him; he had never fallen for a woman so quickly before. She had something about her, some kind of magnetism that he’d never experienced. Thoughts of her being his empress came to mind; he had visions of a coronation.

He briskly walked back to the parlor and shut the door. He picked up the paper that Pasqual had been so insistent he read.The yellow glow of the fire illuminated everything. He unfolded it and began to read it.

URGENT, ALL NAVAL AND SUPPLY VESSELS SUNK OFF THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA. TOTAL LOSS. ESTIMATED CASUALTIES EXCEED 3300.

He finished the port and took a moment to stare at the empty glass. Pasqual was right, he needed to attend to the matter immediately, but in this moment, he would have preferred to be with Isabelle. Frustrated, he threw the empty glass into the fire and went to find General Pasqual.

 • • • 

“All war is deception.”

—Sun Tzu

Rajneeshpuram, Oregon

T
he sky was clear with a luminous half-moon casting its light across the hills and valleys. The drive from their campsite to the hide position for the Humvee took almost three hours. Jones and McCamey had an excellent vista from their spot. When any of Rahab’s men moved, they’d have clear shooting to take them out.

“How are you doing?” Gordon asked Lexi.

“Between you and me, I’m a bit nervous.”

“It’s okay to be scared,” Gordon said.

Lexi interrupted. “I didn’t say
scared
, I said
nervous
. I’m nervous because I don’t know what I’ll do with myself once he’s dead.”

“I know what I’m going to do. I’m heading back to my family as fast as I can get there. You’ll figure it out,” he said, then turned to walk away.

“Gordon?” Lexi called out.

Gordon stopped and turned. “Yeah.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever said it, but I’m really sorry about your son. I know how it feels to lose someone close to you,” Lexi said softly as she gently touched his arm.

Gordon opened his mouth to say something, then stopped. He was going to tease her about showing a soft side, but he knew now wasn’t the time. He also knew her comments were heartfelt. With that in mind, he said, “Thanks, Lexi. You know something? Deep down I know you’re not this ballbuster you pretend to be.”

Lexi smiled and said, “Don’t tell everyone my secret, okay?”

Gordon returned her smile and said, “It’s safe with me,” then walked away from her. He approached Rubio and patted him on the back.

“I didn’t say it before, but thank you.”

“No worries, Van Zandt. You’re a Marine just like us. We’re brothers, and brothers help brothers. Simple as that.”

“I agree,” he said to Rubio, then walked over to Jones and McCamey. “All good with you two?”

“All good,” McCamey answered.

“Ready to do this,” Jones said.

“Let’s get this done, then,” Gordon said as he walked back to his gear and started getting dressed. After putting on his vest he took out the knife that Gunny had given him before he departed and fastened it to the outside. He just hoped he’d get the chance to use it.

“Let’s go green,” Rubio ordered.

Everyone turned on their night-vision goggles.

Rubio was in between Gordon and Lexi and signaled to move out.

They slowly walked down the hillside, careful not to trip over loose rocks. They traversed the hill and stopped at the edge of the road in front of the main building.

Gordon could see two men standing at the front doors. There were no other signs of movement. He looked to Rubio, who was squatting down, then in Lexi’s direction. She was gone. Gordon craned his neck and looked behind him—no sign of her. Then he caught a glimpse of her slinking across the road.

Rubio saw her too and quickly stood up and began across the road. Gordon followed.

They were now in the parking lot for the main building. Gordon got up and crossed over and took up a position behind a car. To his right, he could still see Rubio, who also was crouched down behind another car.

The front entrance was now only twenty feet away. Lexi had vanished completely from his field of view. Gordon was fuming. How could she be so stupid to deviate from the plan? She could jeopardize the entire mission and get them all killed.

Out of nowhere, movement at the front entrance caught his attention. Gordon looked over the car trunk and saw Lexi walking up to the two guards. He put the rifle to his shoulder and was about to engage when he noticed something he never expected to see: She didn’t have any clothes on except a T-shirt, panties, and a utility belt with two knives tucked in the small of her back.

The guards first reacted by raising their rifles, but they changed focus when all they saw was a partially naked, attractive young woman. What Gordon saw was the angel of death about to extract a pound of flesh.

Gordon readied himself and watched what he thought was the most unbelievable act he’d ever seen. Rubio could also see what was happening and was poised to move based upon her actions. He looked over at Gordon and raised his arms, his gesture saying everything that Gordon was thinking. This girl was crazy.

“Please help me,” Lexi said, just above a whisper. She stopped about ten feet away from the skeptical but intrigued men.

The men looked at each other, unsure what to do. They lowered their rifles and stepped away from the front door to approach her.

“Unbelievable,” Gordon muttered to himself. He steadied himself to leap from his position to assist when the time was right.

The men stepped toward her and couldn’t focus on anything else except the sight of Lexi’s nipples standing firm in the cold against the tight white T-shirt. Stepping up, they slung their rifles across their backs and reached for her. Lexi didn’t hesitate one second. Reaching back, each hand grasped a knife. With the speed of a viper she struck out. The knife in her right hand slammed into the temple of one man there and the other knife she inserted upward into the other man’s chin and into his brain. She turned both knives clockwise and removed them. Both men fell to the ground, dead.

Gordon couldn’t believe his eyes. She managed to use deception to achieve what he would have done with aggressive force. He and Rubio ran to the door. Rubio turned the knob but it was locked. As if she read his mind, Lexi walked up with a set of keys and unlocked it. She had an amused look in her eyes, as if she knew that she had just shocked two men who had thought they had seen it all.

“Wait here, I’ll be right back,” Lexi whispered to them both, then disappeared as fast as she had shown up.

“What the
hell
was that?” Rubio whispered.

“And they used to be against women in combat,” Gordon joked.

Lexi hustled back with her equipment and all her clothes on. “Let’s do this, boys.”

Gordon opened the door, and Lexi and Rubio followed behind him. Lexi peeled left and Rubio headed to the right. The layout of the building was unknown to them, but they assumed based upon the setup of the desert compound that Rahab would be located upstairs.

They found themselves in a large great room. On the right side of the room there was a long counter, and in the back, dozens of small tables and chairs were strewn everywhere. From the looks of it, this had once been a hotel, not exactly the “religious compound” that John the barkeep had mentioned.

A door to the left of the front desk opened. All three stopped, pivoted, and took aim.

From behind the door a little girl walked out rubbing her eyes, flashlight in hand. She headed to the back, behind the tables, and opened another door.

Lexi scurried toward the door that the girl had come from. The other two followed her instinct. They all stacked up against it, with Lexi next to the door. She grabbed and turned the handle, slowly opening it. Gordon stepped out from the wall and peeked his head around the corner. He entered a dark, empty hallway. To the left was a door with a sign above it that read
STAIRS
. Gordon made his way in that direction but froze when the door opened. A tall man dressed in pajamas stepped out and made a right out the door, walking briskly down the hallway. Gordon’s heartbeat quickened as he quietly crept up behind the man. He let his rifle drop to his side on the two-point sling and pulled out Gunny’s knife. Placing his hand across the man’s mouth, he swiftly thrust the knife into his neck and upward. Blood squirted out from the wound and sprayed all over the walls and all over Gordon’s face. Gordon could feel the life exit the man as he went limp. He steadied the man’s weight and lowered him to the ground. Gordon exhaled in relief.

Rubio came up behind Gordon and touched his shoulder to signal that he was going around him and into the stairwell. Lexi followed close behind, vanishing into the darkness of the stairwell.

Gordon wiped his face with his sleeve and spit a few times to get the metallic taste of the dead man’s blood out of his mouth. Gordon had a strong constitution, but he had to stop from gagging. The blood in his mouth was too much.

Suddenly the door behind him opened up and the little girl they had seen before stepped into the hallway with a glass in her hand. Gordon froze. He couldn’t run or hide quickly enough.

The girl stopped instantly when she saw him standing there. His presence startled her so much that she dropped the glass of water and beamed her flashlight into his eyes.

The light hit his night-vision goggles and blinded him for a moment. “Argh!” he yelled out as he ripped them off his face.

The girl, who was no more than eight, screamed.

Gordon spun around, ran into the stairwell, and began his ascent up the darkened stairs.

Lexi and Rubio both stopped once they heard the girl scream. Seconds later, Gordon sprinted past them on the stairs and reached the second floor. They ran up after him.

“Okay, Lexi, this is how Marines do it!” Rubio said excitedly as he pulled a grenade loose and held it up. The stalking was over; now it was time to smart smashing and blowing things up.

Gordon placed his hand on top of his and said, “Rubio, we can’t. There are kids here. We need a new plan. I’m going left, Rubio, you go right. Lexi, you’ll go . . . wherever you go, anyway.”

The girl was still screaming and crying down below. The sounds of people yelling and running made it clear that their fight was coming sooner than expected. Once they opened the door to the second floor, all bets were off. They didn’t know what to expect on the other side.

Gordon placed his hand on Lexi’s shoulder and said, “Let’s do this. Lexi, on three open the door. One, two . . .”

Willard Bay Reservoir, Utah

“Your damn uncle must have contacted all of these people on his ham radio chain,” Sebastian said bitterly as he crumpled up the paper that Samuel had given him. The first location they attempted to visit in Ogden had turned them away when they approached. Sebastian tried to reason with the group, but it was hard to have a conversation when a shotgun was being pointed at his face.

“You don’t know Uncle Samuel did that,” Annaliese challenged him.

“Then I guess it was purely a coincidence,” Sebastian mocked her. He rubbed his leg. It was healing, but all the activity was causing it to hurt.

Tensions were growing high between them. Though Annaliese had forgiven Sebastian, her exhaustion had made her snippy. And it didn’t help that Brandon was still acting up.

Failing to find a warm, safe place to sleep after the confrontation in Ogden, Sebastian had driven them off road to the north end of Willard Bay Reservoir, where they found an isolated spot to camp out. Sebastian was beyond frustrated with how this trip was progressing. It was not the simple, fast-paced journey he had had imagined. He knew that this was partly his fault, which only made him angrier. Had he not lashed out at Samuel, they at least would have a warm place to stay

“Brandon, Luke, break down your tent. We need to get on the road!” he commanded the boys. They were busy tossing rocks into the water.

Brandon grumbled, as expected. Luke got right up, brushing off his pants, and headed over to the tent.

“C’mon, Brandon, I need your help,” Luke said.

“One sec. I need to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

Luke rolled his eyes and continued breaking down the tent. Luke was growing weary of Brandon and his attitude. The temptation to say something often popped into his head but he would stop short because Brandon intimidated him.

Sebastian had loaded everything and saw that Luke was now in the truck.

“Where’s Brandon?” he asked Luke.

“I don’t know. He never came back to help me after he went to the bathroom,” Luke mumbled.

A look of irritation came over Sebastian’s face. “Why didn’t you say anything?” Sebastian scolded.

“Go look for him, Sebastian,” Annaliese ordered.

Sebastian shot her a look and said, “Remember what he did yesterday? We don’t have time for this.” With a huff, he jumped out of the car and headed in the direction that Brandon had wandered off.

The terrain was mostly flat and treeless, making it easy to spot anyone. He walked along the shoreline and saw a few buildings located on the state park.

“Where the hell is he?” Sebastian muttered.

A cry from someone that sounded like Brandon came from one of the buildings he had seen.

Sebastian didn’t know whether to be concerned or whether he should chalk this up to Brandon playing a trick on him again, but he didn’t want to take a chance just in case. Ignoring his leg, he took off in a sprint, pistol drawn, and kicked the door in. He heard a door in the rear exit of the building slam closed. There he saw Brandon on the floor with his pants down, with several cuts to his face. Sebastian ran over to him and asked, “Shit, Brandon, are you okay?”

Brandon sat up. His nose was bleeding and his lip was cut. “Yeah.”

Sebastian helped him to his feet and asked, “What happened?”

Brandon shrugged off his grip and said, “Nothing, don’t worry about it.” He pulled up his pants and wiped the blood from his face.

“Don’t tell me that. What happened?”

“I went to go take a shit and wanted some privacy so I came over here. All I know is some sick fuck came at me when I had my pants down, that’s it!”

“Are you hurt?” Sebastian asked, concerned.

“I’m fine. If you’re wondering if he raped me, no he didn’t. I fought him off. Now leave me alone!” Brandon yelled. He stormed out of the building.

Sebastian walked around the perimeter in search of whoever had approached Brandon, but he couldn’t find evidence of where this person had run to. Not wanting to stall their trip any longer, and knowing that Brandon was safe, he headed back to the car. It wasn’t even noon, and he was already exhausted. It was bad enough that he had to watch out for himself and for his wife, but the quasi-parental role that he was filling was taxing on him. In so many ways, his life was easier when he was a sniper in the Marines.

Cheyenne, Wyoming